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Qod's Qhildren 



by 

Emma Lieber 



Illustrated by 

Will Vawter 



Kansas City, Mo. 

Burton Publishing Company 

Publishers 



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copyrighted 1921 
Burton Publishing Company 

Kansas City, Mo. 



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JAN -3 1922 
©CIA653393 






dedicated 



TO 



Walter •, T^alph andjeanette 

Whom I had the privilege 
to bring into the world 
and who, with the aid of 
their father, their grand- 
parents and teachers, are 
bound to strengthen the 
bonds which hold 
Humanity within the 
bounds of Civilization. 




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Foreword 



TO BE able to 



talk so that chil- 
dren can fully understand is a 
rare gift, but to be able to write a 
book on a scientific topic that they 
may comprehend is an accomplish- 
ment worthy of notice. 

In "God's Children" Mrs. Lieber 
has placed before children facts 
should know about in so simple 
manner that they cannot fail 
grasp the meaning of her every 
word. 

In the study of child psychology 
many have failed because of their 
lack of appreciation of fundamentals 
that are of as much importance to 
the growing child as they are to the 
adolescent individual. The child 











mind is just as great in its way as is 
the mind of the adult, the only differ- 
ence being that the adult mind is only 
that of a child grown up. Children 
readily learn scientific facts if they 
are properly put to them, and it is 
foolish in the extreme for parents to 
say as they frequently do, "My child 
is too young to understand what I 
mean when I attempt to talk to it 
about the workings of nature, there- 
fore, because of my feeling, I shall 
not tell it anything until it grows up." 

This is possibly the most en- 
lightened age since the dawn of his- 
tory. Civilization is advancing 
toward a goal that appears at times 
to be almost Utopian. Knowledge 
that is worth while is being acquired 
by society and is bound to lift it out 
from under the weight of puritanical 



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and prurient teachings that have, 
because of the vicious circle they 
have established, almost damned its 
members, and made them anti-social 
beings. 

It is to be hoped that as civiliza- 
tion advances children may receive 
a type of culture that will save them 
from themselves when they reach 
puberty. Children should be taught 
that the physiological factors that 
enter into the reproducing of their 
kind are holy and should be so 
treated. 

Nothing can be gained if the baby 
boy or baby girl is told a deliberate 
lie when they ask of their parents 
the most natural question of all the 
questions they will ever ask in their 
lives, ''Who made me?" "Where 



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did I come from? ,, These questions 
require a truthful answer. Children 
are capable of understanding, all 
they need is to have the mystery of 
life explained to them in a manner 
that will make a lasting impression 
on their growing minds. When a 
child is told the "stork lie" it in- 
tuitively knows that a falsehood has 
come from the lips of the parent of 
whom it asked the truth. 

The child of today is the parent of 
tomorrow. If it has received the 
proper instruction from right sources, 
it can not help sanctifying its in- 
dividuality to the glory of parent- 
hood. If it is taught to conserve its 
energies and not to allow them to be 
prostituted to lust, and that it 
carries in its body the half of an 












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entity that began to cry for existence 
the moment it was born (the seed of 
the next generation is in the bodies 
of the present), and that if carnal 
appetites are permitted to gain the 
upperhand, it will fail because of 
disease, etc., to bring into the world 
babies who would reflect credit on 
it, such teaching will make of the 
child a better citizen. 

The proper time to begin instruct- 
ing children is when they are very 
young, in order that their minds may 
be directed into channels that will 
make for racial purity. The only 
way that a single standard of moral- 
ity can become a fact is through 
education of children into a belief in 
themselves as creators of heroes and 
heroines of the future. They 











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possess the real essence of heroism if 
they are inclined in the way they 
should go when they are young. 

Mrs. Lieber is to be congratulated, 
and it is to be hoped that many 
parents will read "God's Children' ' 
and will, in turn, read it to their boys 
and girls, that the ideals for which 
the book stands may be glorified. 

Lee Alexander Stone, M. D., 
Regional Consultant 
United States Public 
Health Service. 







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iA Word to Barents 

TT7HAT parent is not anxious 
* * about the welfare of his 
child? And what is more important 
than the child's mental and physical 
health? 

Mind and body depend upon each 
other. Both develop with the proper 
care. 

The character is strengthened by 
the teaching of self-control, and self- 
control is attained by the wise in- 
structions of parent and teacher. 

There is one study which has been 
greatly neglected in the past, a 





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subject that is apt to change the 
whole outlook of the child and that 
may influence the course of his life. 
For the most part, knowledge on this 
subject is left to be "picked up" by 
the child as the opportunity presents 
itself; in other words, in a hap- 
hazard fashion. 

I am referring to the teaching of 
the matters of sex. This instruction 
when given by the parent can build 
up a friendship and a comradeship 
between parent and child which 
can not otherwise be gained and 
which is of the greatest value to 
both, establishing a bond of con- 
fidence which can in no other way 
endure. 






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It has been my experience, how- 
ever, that many parents are handi- 
capped by a false modesty, or 
through lack of knowledge, fail to 
give a child a correct and simple 
explanation of what life is. 

A child at the age of ten, or even 
younger, will begin to wonder: 
"Where does a baby come from?" 
He will ask his parents and almost 
invariably will be told an untruth or 
put off with some subterfuge. Often 
when the mystery seems too over- 
whelming, he will, instead of return- 
ing to his mother, for the solution, 
go to some older companion and will 
get the truth, generally in a dis- 
torted manner. Many parents con- 
sider their own child's need in this 





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matter as quite apart from that of 
other people's children, and, con- 
sider it unnecessary to explain to 
their own child their knowledge of 
reproduction at so early an age. 
Nature has so arranged that at the 
above mentioned age the sex instinct 
is awakened in the normal child and 
his interest naturally turns to the 
question: "Where does life come 
from?" This curiosity should and 
must be respected, if we have the 
child's interest at heart. 

Long before the mother is con- 
fronted with the question, "Where 
does a baby come from?" a founda- 
tion to this subject should be laid. 

What is easier or more beautiful 
than to instruct the child in plant 




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life? The average child of six has 
enough intelligence to be told of the 
love-life of plants. At the age of 
seven or eight, when his love for 
animal pets is aroused, the love-life 
of animals can be explained. His 
interest and understanding are thus 
developed in a perfectly natural 
manner for the explanation of the 
love-life of human beings. Som 
parents do not know just how to 
impart the knowledge of reproduc- 
tion to their children, and to these 
I am sending this little book, hoping 
that it may assist them in answer- 
ing the child's ever-recurring ques- 
tion: "Where does a baby come 
from?" in a most natural and simple 






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It is not my intention to teach 
botany, zoology, physiology, al- 
though I hope that the child who 
reads these pages will have a love 
for Nature awakened. 

Sex education is a necessary health 
education and should not be neg- 
lected. Ignorance and false modesty 
in this direction have brought more 
unhappiness and misery into the 
world than the neglect of any other 
study. An appreciation of parent- 
hood can be developed only by a 
true knowledge of anthropology. 



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The most beautiful thing in the 
world is Love. 

The most wonderful, a Baby. 

The most sacred, Parenthood. 

I know that all of you like to listen 
to fairy tales. 

But you know that fairy tales are 
not true. 

Now, I am going to tell you a true 
tale which to you will sound just like 
a fairy tale and I hope you will read 
it and love it as much as any fairy 
tale you have ever read. 

I shall first ask you how many 
plants you know. 

You will recall to your minds the 
dear little flowers, such as the rose, 
the sweetpea and the lily, the tulip 
and many others. Then you will 








think of the different trees you know, 
for, of course, they are plants. 

There is the maple, the beech, the 
apple, and the pear. 

And you will think again and 
remember the vegetables, the very 
ones you had for dinner yesterday. 

They all belong to the kingdom of 
plants. 

But before I go on with my story, 
I shall ask you to remember some of 
the animals you know. 

I am sure you are thinking of the 
.J cat, the dog, the fish and the turtle. 

Neither you nor I can begin to 
recall them all. 

And I haven't mentioned the most 
important animal, the one you know 
and love best, namely, the Human 



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Being, for that is what we are, dear 
children, animals, the highest type 
of animal. 

Most of you do not know that the 
plants and the animals are very 
much alike. 

They all are full of life and can eat 
and drink and love. 

Surely, this sounds to you like the 
beginning of a fairy tale. Who ever 
heard of flowers eating and drinking 
and making love to each other? 

I shall try to tell you just how 
much the plants and animals re- 
semble each other, and, I believe, 
when you have finished reading this 
story, that you will love the trees 
and the flowers, the birds and the 



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cat, and even father and mother 
more than you do already. 

Now, the first thing in the world 
that lived was a plant. 

I shall not explain to you how we 
know that plants were the first 
living things in the world and lived 
before any animals, at least such 
animals as we know today. 

Perhaps, before you have finished 
reading this story you will be able 
to tell for yourselves. 

Plants, as I have told you, have 
life, and anything that lives must 
eat and drink. 

You may never have noticed the 
mouths and stomachs of plants. 
You have probably never looked for 
them. 




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Have you ever wondered where 
the water goes when it rains on the 
flowers and trees? 

Or have you wondered why the 
farmer puts manure on his ground 
before he plants his corn? 

Let us look at the morning glory 
with our mind's eye. 

It is growing most beautifully in 
the garden. 

We cut it from the vine, place it 
in a box and carry it into the house. 

It is almost wilted when we open 
the box and would surely have died 
had we left it there very long. 

We rush to the kitchen to fill a 
little vase with water and we notice 
that the flower does not look quite 




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as wilted as it did when we took the 
lid off of the box. 

It has been breathing air — part of 
the flower's food. 

After the flower has been in the 
water a little while we notice, it 
begins to look quite fresh and pretty 
again. 

It has drunk some water. 

Of course, the flower will not 
remain fresh very long. 

Cut away from its stem, it is 
unable to get all the nourishment it 
needs to sustain life. 

We will have to let it die and ex- 
amine some of the flowers growing 
in the garden. 

Do you notice how the plants that 
get plenty of air and sunshine and a 





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lot of water are so much prettier and 
healthier looking than those not so 
fortunately placed ? 

The leaves of a plant are its mouth 



and stomach. 




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This seems odd, but men and 
women, too, who have studied plant 
life and who have examined the 
leaves of trees and flowers through a 
microscope (a glass so strong that 
when you look at anything through 
it everything is much enlarged) have 
seen that this is a fact. 

Look at a leaf. 

It is generally broad and flat and 
green in color. 

You will also see the many veins 



running through it. 




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With our naked eyes we do not 
see its many mouths. 

It has many mouths, however, 
and with these most greedily eats the 
particles from the air which it needs 
to keep the plant on which it grows 
alive. 

It must have carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen. 

It also needs the rays of the sun 
and often fights with its neighbor 
leaves to secure the most of the rays. 

The rays of the sun are most im- 
portant to the leaves. 

But not only does the plant get its 
nourishment through the leaves — the 
roots must help feed the plant. 

Now, the remarkable thing, which 
may strike you as quite unreason- 



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able, is that plants marry and have a 
family. 

I am sure you want to hear about 
this before I tell you of the first plants 
we know about. 

I think we will first learn about the 
morning glory's love-life. 

It is one of the flowers you see 
every day all summer long, as you 
roam about in the garden or pass a 
garden wall. 

You have noticed how the bees 
buzz around the morning glory. 

They are waiting for an invitation 
to enter the flowers. 

Presently we see a bee enter a 










flower. 

It is well aware that it will get 



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some sweet nectar, which the bee 
needs to make honey. 

The pretty flower is glad to give 
the bee some nectar, which is stored 
away down in its cup. 

It is most anxious that its friend, 
the bee, shall carry to its sweetheart 
living down the road something very 
valuable. 

It is the most valuable thing in 
the world and is called "Pollen." 

You may think you have never 
seen pollen. 

By and by I shall tell you what 
pollen is, or rather why it is so im- 
portant that the friendly bee should 
carry some, "pollen" to yonder morn- 
ing glory. 

Let us first cut a morning glory 












from the vine and look inside it. 

First you notice the pretty color of 
flower, 
is all purple, all but the inside, 

at least, all but the long stalks on 
the inside of the flower. 

There are six of these stalks and 
they are white. 

If you will look closely you will 
notice that they do not look quite 
alike. 

Five of them are somewhat shorter 
than the sixth one. 

These five have a three-cornered 
shaped cup on them at the top. 

These little cups are called 
"anthers." 

In them the flowers store the 
pollen, though not quite all of it. 








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No doubt you have stuck your 
nose into a morning glory, and, if 
you then have looked into a mirror 
you have seen a bit of white powder 
on the tip of your nose. 

Or you may have put the tip of 
your nose into a tigerlily, for in- 
stance, and your little playmates 
have laughed and said to you, "Oh, 
your nose is all yellow!" 

In both cases what you had on the 
tip of your nose was pollen. 

You see not all pollen is white. 

Now, the stalk which you see 
standing up on the inside of the 
flower on which the anthers rest is 
called the "filament" and the whole 
stalk is called the "Stamen." 

The sixth stalk in the flower is 



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really the very most important of all 
the stalks; at least, I think so. 

It stands in the center and carries 
a crown. 

This crown is called the ' stigma.' ' 

The slender stalk on which the 
crown rests is called the ' 'style." 

At the very bottom of the style is 
a round knob and this is called the 
"ovary." 

I want you particularly to re- 
member the name "ovary." 

I shall use it very often in this 
story, not only when talking of the 
flowers, but also when I tell you 
about the animals. 

Every female has an ovary, one 

two. 

This will show you that the stalk 









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in the flower called the stigma is the 
female of the flower. 

The stalks called the stamen are 
the male of the flower. 

You will wonder what the relation- 
ship is between the stamen and the 
stigma. 

Well, listen, the stamen are the 
five brothers of the stigma. 

Isn't that marvelous? 

In the ovary is the "ovule." 

Ovule means "little egg." 

You have never heard that plants 
have eggs, but "egg" means "little 
seed." 

You know now that ovule means 
little egg — little seed, which makes 
you realize that eggs and seeds are 
one and the same. 



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You have all seen the seed-pods 
and noticed that when the flower is 
dead, or seems dead, the seed-pod is 
still on the vine. 

And naturally it had to be, be- 
cause in the seed-pod are the little 
seed-children, and I shall now tell 
you how they get there. 

This seed-pod, as you know, is the 
ovary of the flower. 

And now to the love story of the 
morning glory, or, for that matter, of 
any flower. 

On a beautiful summer day the 
prettiest of the morning glories, 
which we see dancing in the sunshine, 
is waiting for a bee friend. 

It is all dressed up in its lovely 
purple frock and is smiling gaily, 




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for it is in love, and is very happy. 

Soon a bee is seen buzzing near. 

"Ah, good friend," it calls in the 
language of the flowers, "come visit 
me. I shall treat you to some very 
good nectar, if you will then fly to 
my sweetheart, who is leaning over 
the garden wall and bring her my 
love." 

And the little bee, who is fond 
of the delicious nectar, comes closer 
and closer and finally dips his whole 
body into the morning glory. 

He sucks the nectar with his 
tongue and while he is thus engaged 
his legs and his head, which are 
covered with fine hair, are being 
covered with pollen. 

This is what the morning glory 




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wants to send to his sweetheart whom 
he can not visit himself but whom 
he dearly loves. 

After the little bee has drunk as 
much nectar as he wishes, he bids 
the morning glory farewell and flies 
away with the love message. 

When he reaches the morning 
glory's sweetheart for more nectar 
he again dips his body into the 
flower and leaves the pollen which 
is sticking on his head and legs right 
on the longest of the stalks, the 
stigma or female of the flower. 

The pollen sifts through the stigma 
down the style and goes right into 
the ovary, landing on the ovule or 
little seed-children, as we like to 
call them. 






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The morning glory is now very 
happy. 

She now knows that she is married. 

The pollen, when it strikes the 
ovule fertilizes the little seeds and 
then only after this has taken place 
can the little seeds hope ever to be 
real flowers themselves some sum- 
mer day. 

The bees are not the only love 
messengers that carry pollen. 

The love-messages to some flowers 
are carried by the ants, the butter- 
fly, the humming bird and others. 

Even the wind is used for carrying 
the love-message between plants, 
especially trees. 

Not all plant flowers have five 



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stamens or show their pollen as the 
morning glory does. 

Some have more stamens, some 
fewer. 

But what all plants do have, be 
they flowers, trees or vegetables, are 
pollen and ova. 

And in all ovaries lie the seed- 
children waiting to be fertilized. 

And all pollen is the love-message. 

You have all noticed in the spring- 
time how the wind carries with it a 
feathery substance, which, when it 
lands on the sidewalk looks white or 
yellow, and sticks to it like tiny 
feathers or dust would stick. 

This, dear children, is pollen from 
some tree which wished to mate with 
his sweetheart tree. 

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Lots of pollen is lost. 

The wind often miscarries the love- 
message. 

It is lost before it reaches its des- 
tination. 

But perhaps that is as well. 

If every bit of pollen that the 
friends of the plants offer to carry to 
the sweethearts should reach these 
sweethearts and should fertilize the 
little seed-children, there would be 
little room left for all the animals and 
for us people in this wonderful world 
of ours. 

But I haven't yet told you what 
happens to the morning glory after 

e bee has left the pollen on the 
stigma which sifted into the ovary, 



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where it has become united with the 
little seeds or eggs. 

The flower has been made very 
happy after, as I told you, it had 
sent its love-message to its sweet- 
heart. 

Especially happy after all the 
stamens have been relieved of their 
pollen and the stigma has received 
the pollen from another flower. 

The flower having thus performed 
its duty in the world begins to wilt. 

The petals fall off the flower one 
by one and the stamens dry up. 

But the flower is far from being 
dead. 

It is only no longer pretty to 
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If, however, you examine what is 











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left on the vine you will see that the 
stigma of the apparently dead morn- 
ing glory is still on the vine. 

It is sticking out of the ovary. 

The ovary is protected by the same 
green leaves or sepals, as they are 
called, which were around the flower 
when it was such a pleasure to look 
at it. 

In the ovary, which has grown 
much larger and is rather hard to 
touch, the little seedbabies are grow- 
ing stronger each day, so that when 
fall comes, they can tumble on the 
round and dig their way into 
Mother Earth, who will keep them 
nice and warm during the long 
winter months. 

When spring comes, some nice 



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warm day after a good warm rain, 
we will see little green sprouts show- 
ing above the ground. 

We then know that the little 
seedbabies of the summer before 
have been born and are beginning 
life as their parents did the year 
previously. 

I have told you only a very little 
about the plant's life, in fact, only 
about one little flower's romance. 

When you study botany you will 
learn about the love stories of hun- 
dreds of different flowers, trees and 
vegetables. 

You will then also learn how some 
plants are our best friends, others 
our enemies, and how we could not 
live without plants. 



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And you will learn how some plants 
are parasites. 

This means that they are robbers. 

They won't work for themselves. 
They let other plants feed them and 
steal their food and often kill them. 

You will learn how some plants 
fight their neighbors in order to live. 

And how some plants are co- 
quettish, some gay and others sullen. 

You will learn how they protect 
their seedbabies, how they often 
are robbed of these, and how they 
have learned by this experience to 
protect them. 

And you will learn the relation- 
ship of the plants to one another. 

Many of the beautiful flowers are 
related to the vegetables. 









42 









In fact, you will learn so many 
wonderful things about the plants 
that every blade of grass, every 
flower and every tree that you see 
along the way to school will become 
a real interest to you. 

And when you know all about the 
life of the plants you will see how 
wrong it is to pick flowers for the 
mere pleasure of picking them. 

I have many times seen people 
pick flowers or a budding twig of 
an apple tree and, after holding 
these in their hot hands for an hour, 
throw them carelessly away. 

These flowers were not only robbed 
of their love-life, but had to die of 
thirst. 

Even the little I have told you so 

--— -Sk* 







43 





far about the plants will prevent 
you from acting as selfishly as the 
people I have just told you about. 

The world is very wonderful and 
before I tell you more of the secrets 
of the plant life, I shall tell you some 
of the secrets of the animals. 

just about the time we have given 
up hope of spring ever coming again, 
we hear a chirping right outside of 
our bedroom window. 

Looking out we see Mr. and Mrs. 
Robin. 

Spring is near! 

We remember that Mr. and Mrs. 
Robin had a nest under the eaves of 
the porch last year, and we feel 
certain that they are planning to 
build another nest there this year. 




How happy we are ! 

We will watch them a bit each 
day and see how they progress in 
the building of their home. 

We see that Mrs. Robin is the 
real builder. 

It is she who carries each piece of 
straw, twine, and grass in her little 
mouth to build their nest. 

Mr. Robin helps her put it to- 
gether and with their beaks and 
wings they seem to fasten each 



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piece of nest material to the other 
and smooth it out so as to make it 
round and even. 

After a week or two, we notice 
that only Mr. Robin has time to 
sing us a song. 

We see him fly about. 






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Mrs. Robin is too busy these days 
to fly much. 

She is laying eggs. 

One day when she left her nest to 
hunt some food, we were quick 
enough with the ladder to climb up 
to the eaves of the porch and get a 
peep at the eggs. 

There were four in the nest. 

They were bluish gray in color and 
much smaller than a chicken egg. 

We could not tarry long. 

Mrs. Robin eats hurried meals 
while she is sitting on her eggs — 
her seedchildren. 

She knows if she does her work well 
she will be rewarded by darling little 
babies. 

After sitting on her eggs several 




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weeks we notice that something 
marvelous has happened in the little 
home. 

If we listen closely we will hear a 
"peep-peep/ ' 

We will then realize that four 
baby robins were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Robin. 

Now, how did this all come about ? 

Like the little morning glory, the 
female bird was courted by the male 
bird. 

The robin, however, needs no 
friend to carry his love-message to 
his lady-love. 

He is able to do his own courting, 
as well as deliver his own pollen. 

You know I told you to remember 
the name 'ovary" and told you that 







every female had one or two ovaries 
within her in which the little ovule 
rests. 

You remember that the ovules are 
also called seeds or eggs. 

The female robin, like every other 
female, has in her ovaries little eggs, 
that must be fertilized before she 
can hope to have little babies. 

The male robin has that power, 
namely, to fertilize the eggs, just as 
the male plant has this power. 

This fertilizer is not called pollen 
in the animals. 

It is called "semen," but is the 
same as pollen. 

You ought now to know that 
animals, as well as plants, marry. 

Though most birds lay eggs and 











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sit on, or as it is correctly called, 
incubate the eggs, until their young 
are hatched, all birds come to life 
in that way. 

Nor do all birds sit on four eggs. 

Some birds lay more, some not 
so many. 

Then there are some, like the 
chicken, that lay all the year round 
and whose number of eggs to be 
hatched is to be decided by the 
person placing the eggs in the nest 
when she is ready to sit on, or 
incubate, her eggs (which we all 
know is only in the springtime, the 
mating time of most animals). 

But not all animals come to life 
in that way. 

I shall not now stop to tell you of 



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all the different ways — you will learn 
that later. 

But I want to tell you of the fish's 
love story, at least, the fish most 
commonly known to us. 

In the spring when the female 
fish feels that it is soon time to 
"spawn" (lay her eggs), she selects 
a nice gravel bed, with her tail 
she smooths the gravel and, if pos- 
sible, tries to find some grass and the 
like on which she then lays her eggs. 

And not only a few eggs does she 
lay, but hundreds of them. 

Then the male fish comes along and 
distributes the fertilizing fluid over 
the little eggs. 

There are two things unusual with 
the love-life of these fish most com- 




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monly known to us. In the first 
place, with all other animals except 
the very lowest type of animal life, 
the fertilizing fluid or sperm-cell 
unites with the egg-cell in the body 
of the animal, and generally it 
reaches the oviduct through the 
ovary. 

The other unusual thing with the 
fish's love-life is that the male fish 
watches over the eggs instead of the 
mother fish. 

He does not seem to trust his wife. 

Perhaps he thinks her brood is so 
large that she is not strong enough 
to perform this task. 

And though he chases her away 
from time to time, mother fish swims 
as near her eggs as she possibly can, 





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doing very little visiting during these 
precious weeks. 

Even after the little fish come to 
life, father fish takes care of the 
babies. 

Maybe that is the reason so many 
of the fish die long before they 
grow up. 

Many people think that the fish 
do not have as much love for each 
other as other animals have. 

But I believe they do. 

Only we do not understand their 
way of courting so well as that of 
many other animals. 

There is still another way that 
animals marry and give birth to 
their young. 

The way I shall try to explain to 



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you is the way of all higher animals, 
such as the cat, the dog, the cow, 
the horse, the pig, and almost all of 
our four-legged animals. 

All higher animals mature in the 
bodies of their mothers and are born 
into the world only after they are 
able to breathe the air and take 
nourishment to keep them alive. 

We have all seen how awkward the 
little kitties are and how their mother 
takes care of them and loves and 
pets them. 

And how we all love these little 
babies, whether they are chickens, 
puppies, calves or even little elephant 
babies ! 

They are all the love babies of 
their parents. 



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Love certainly is the most beauti- 
ful thing in the world. 

God has arranged it that the plants 
and the animals may have off- 
spring and that their combined love 
may bear to them a child. 

And so the most sacred thing in 
the world is parenthood. 

Do you now see how animals and 
plants resemble each other? 

You did not know before reading 
this story that plants ate and drank 
and married. 

You knew that animals drank and 
ate food. 

And now you know, too, that they, 
like plants, marry and have children. 

Isn't it wonderful? 

When you are old enough to study 

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zoology you will learn all about the 
organs of all animals; all about their 
veins and their nerves. 

You will learn all about the de- 
velopment of their offspring as it 
grows in the mother's body. 

I have told you only of the love- 
life of the robin and the cat. 

When you study zoology you will 
learn the romances of many thou- 
sands of animals. 

And you will learn that in the 
animal kingdom we have our friends 
and our enemies. 

That there are fighters and par- 
asites among them. 

How the animals protect their 
seedchildren and how, in spite of 
that, they are often robbed of them. 






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You will learn that there are 
coquettes among them, how some 
are gay, some sullen. 

You will learn of their relationship 
to each other. 

You will learn that they could not 
live without plants and will learn 
many thousands of other wonderful 
things about animal life. 

After you have studied all these 
wonderful things about the animals 
you will be more interested than 
ever in every animal you see each 
day and will love it even more than 
you do already. 

You will not understand how it is 
possible that some people find pleas- 
ure in teasing or hurting an animal 
or killing it merely for the sake of 








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killing, as some few hunters and 
fishermen do, who thus not only 
rob that animal of his life, but of the 
life of the children he has not yet 
had a chance to bring into the 
world. 

And now I must tell you the most 
wonderful story of all wonderful 
stories on earth. 

I have told you that we people are 
called animals, the highest animal 
in the world. 

That we eat, drink and love, I need 
not tell you. 

Nor that we marry, nor that we 
have children. 

You know all this. 

When I told you that all females 
have ovaries, I meant every female. 



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This naturally includes the human 
female. 

The ovaries, of which there are 
two in the human females, have in 
them the little seedbabies of the 
human race, just as the morning 
glory has the seedbabies of the little 
morning glories, or the robin, the 
cat, the chicken or the elephant has 
the seedbabies in their respective 
ovaries. These reproductive organs 
lie in the pelvis. 

The pelvis is a bowl-shaped cavity 
formed by bones at the lower part 
of the body trunk just above the 
place where the legs are joined to 
the body. 

And like these, the human egg or 

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seeds must be fertilized before they 
can grow into real live babies. 

"Fertilized" means when the egg- 
cell and sperm-cell unite to make 
one from the two. 

This takes place in the body of 
the future mother. 

Mother carries the little baby in 
her body for many months before 
the little baby is able to breathe the 
air and take nourishment. 

It is then born into the world just 
like any other of the higher animals. 

When you are old enough to study 
physiology you will learn all about 
the structure and functioning of 
human organs. 

You will learn about protoplasm, 





59 












which is found in every living thing 
on earth. 

Protoplasm is the only mystery 
in the world that never will be solved 
by human mind or made by human 
hands. 

The highest gift and the greatest 
responsibility that God gives to 
husband and wife is a child. 

How parents do and should 
treasure this gift! 

This wonderful child born to them 
through the same kind of love- 
message that the bee took to the 
morning glory or the robin to his 
lady love. 

Do you see now why the plants 
resemble animals? 

Why the animals need the plants? 












And we human beings need both? 

How, in fact, we all need one 
another? 

And should we not, therefore, love 
everything and everybody in this 
wonderful world of ours, where we 
all live as God's Children? 














61 



